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Mamet, David
State And Main (2000)
When filmmakers come to Waterford, Vt., they shoot first and ask questions later. Writer-director David Mamet doesn't miss a target with this scathing satire of moviemaking. There's the egomaniacal star (Alec Baldwin) who can't keep his pants zipped, the starlet (Sarah Jessica Parker) who won't take off her top and the impotent writer (Philip Seymour Hoffman) ignored by everyone.
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This moviescript available in following formats:
Mamet, David. State And Main
State and Main Script
FADE IN:
EXT. FIREHOUSE - DAY
Ann is walking down the street. The firedog runs out of the
firehouse, she gives the dog a biscuit, and pats him on the
head.
The fireman is out front with a cup of coffee. Ann hands him
a poster.
EXT. STATE AND MAIN - INTERSECTION - DAY
Morris and Spud, two codgers, are about to cross the street
when they hear a beeping and stop.
As they cross, we see the tail end of a van, and the group
nods in that direction.
MORRIS
You hear that?
SPUD
Yes, I hear it.
MORRIS
Drive a man to drink. Took me near half
an-hour, get across the street
yesterday.
SPUD
I saw Budgie Gagnon, leaning on the bank
of the building. Said, "What are you
doin’?" He said, "I’m waitin’ for the
’leven o’clock crossing..."
As Morris and Spud speak a car is coming down the street, and
bounces in the pothole.
MORRIS
Y’wanna fix something, you should fix
the pothole. Yessir, they should be
trussed up, thrown off some high
building.
DOUG MACKENZIE, a young Republican type, walks up to join
them.
DOUG
Who’s that?
MORRIS
Whoever spent ten, f’teen thousand
dollars, a new traffic light, you could
grow old, paint your house before it
lets you cross the street, and then, not
fix the pothole.
SPUD
What was wrong with the old traffic
light?
INT. COFFEE CORNER - DAY
They enter the Coffee Corner. Carla is serving the folk, and
Jack the owner is behind the counter.
DOUG
I’m glad you asked... I’ll tell you what
was wrong with it. And what was wrong
with it was it was behind the times.
Now: You want to bring business into
this town? You have to plan for a
Waterford that Does Not Exist. Not at
the moment, no...
ANN
Morning, darling.
DOUG
Morning.
CARLA
Hi, Annie.
Ann hands Carla a poster.
ANN
Morning, Carla.
Doug and the two codgers move to a table by the window where
Carla, the nubile waitress, brings them coffee. Ann talks to
a woman at the counter.
MORRIS
...the damn thing...
SPUD
No, I’m serious, election’s coming up, a
lot of people are pretty upset...
DOUG
They are, yes. I’m sure they are...
WOMAN AT COUNTER
Annie, I’m going to be a lil’ late for
the rehearsal, tonight.
ANN
S’Okay, Maude. You know your lines...?
DOUG
...I’m sure that people are upset...
MAUDE
I know ’em, I don’t know what order they
come in...
ANN
We’ll work it out.
JACK
What’re they talking about?
ANN
Traffic light.
JACK
Waal, no, th’traffic light’s Doug’s
thing. That’s his thing, fine.
DOUG
Thank you, Jack, and...
JACK
But we got to talk about the pothole.
DOUG
Jack...
JACK
A public office is a public trust...
This is why this is America. Question
is: who owns the street.
Outside the front booth, on the street, the airport van
cruises by.
EXT. STATE AND MAIN - DAY
As they walk out we hear a high pitched beeping sound at the
traffic light. We see DOC WILSON crossing the street,
holding his doctor’s bag. An ELDERLY MAN approaches Doc at
the crossing. As Walt and Bill walk, the airport van follows
them.
TOWNSMAN
Doc, those pills, y’gave me for my back?
I’m not sure that they work.
DOC WILSON
Well, I’m not sure either, but y’don’t
hear me complain... come by th’office,
end of th’afternoon.
TOWNSMAN
Thanks, Doc...
BILL
This is your movie, this is small town
America.
WALT
Town in New Hampshire was small town
America, too. Forty thousand dollars a
day, to shoot on the street. And then
they kicked us out...
They stop in front of a rack of fifty "factory seconds."
Black and red hunting jackets, in front of the sporting goods
store. The sign reads "FACTORY SECONDS, FIVE DOLLARS."
BILL
A jacket for five dollars... I can buy
this town for fifty bucks.
WALT
You told me that about the last town.
BILL
Yeah, but they never made a movie here.
WALT
I’m bleeding, Bill, I’m bleeding...
BILL
...why am I here?
WALT
What, what, what, what do they got that
can pass for the Old Mill?
Bill shows Walt a brochure from Waterford, which shows a
picture of the Old Mill. Walt reads.
WALT (CONT’D)
"The Waterford Mill, built in 1825, and
long a tourist attraction..." Wake up
Uberto
ANGLE:
INT. THE AIRPORT VAN - CONTINUOUS
UBERTO is asleep. Bill wakes him up.
UBERTO
Where are we?
WALT
Givvem a cigarette...
Uberto comes out of the car and squints around.
UBERTO
...they ship our Old Mill from New
Hampshire?
BILL
They’re holding our Old Mill for ransom.
UBERTO
We build it?
BILL
We don’t have to build it.
He shows Uberto the brochure.
UBERTO
We build the fire hut?
Walt shows Uberto the Firehouse. Uberto looks through the
viewfinder.
UBERTO (CONT’D)
We have to lose the window.
WALT
...we can’t lose the wind...
UBERTO
(pulling out storyboards)
Then I can’t do this shot... you wants
me to push in -- I can’t push in through
the window... we go back to New
Hampshire?
BILL
NO, we can’t ever go back to New
Hampshire.
A pick-up truck with two calves in it stops, the driver seen
from the back is a farmer smoking a pipe.
WALT
NO, we’re gonna stay here. This is what
my people died for. The right to make a
movie in this town.
INT. TAVERN INN LOBBY - DAY
A desk clerk, SCOTT, looks up. Behind the desk a display of
several souvenir plates, "Souvenir of Waterford, VT", with a
picture of the Old Mill on them. Walt picks one up and hands
it to Bill.
SCOTT
May I help you?
WALT
(followed Bill)
I want to talk to the manager.
Walt talks into his cell phone as he talks to Scott.
SCOTT
Would you like a room?
BILL
Na, we wanna rent the whole hotel.
WALT
(into phone)
Hello, Tracy, we gotta new town.
We’re...where are we?
BEAT. Bill looks around, sees a sign on a desk. Consults
his tourist folder. As they talk they walk into deserted
ballroom and play shuffleboard and archery.
BILL
(carrying Waterford plate)
Waterford, Vermont.
WALT
...you got to get me that street for
nothing...
BILL
I will.
WALT
(into phone)
Waterford, Vermont. Where is it?
That’s where it is...
Walt carries the shuffleboard stick over his shoulder.
INT. WALT’S OFFICE - NIGHT
Walt is talking on a cellphone. A male P.A. is bringing in
bags of equipment. Bill is still sitting perched on a desk,
typing into his computer. Uberto is sitting on a couch,
smoking.
We see the shuffleboard stick on the desk, and the Old Mill
plate on the wall.
WALT
(to phone)
Because, because...we don’t have to
build an Old Mill. They have an Old
Mill. Yeah. It’s on a stream -- that’s
where you put a mill.
BILL
...they run on water.
WALT
(to phone)
Now: I’m looking at the...
He gestures for Bill who hands him the storyboards.
WALT (CONT’D)
I’ve got scene twelve...
(to Carla)
Shouldn’t you be in school?
CARLA
It’s night.
WALT
(to phone as he shows the Old
Mill storyboards to camera)
Scene twelve...arrival at the mill.
ANGLE
Scott enters.
SCOTT
Mr. Price, Mr. Price...?
(he hands Walt flowers)
BILL
What...?
They go back to the flowers. Walt takes the card, reads.
WALT
"Bring it in on time and there’s more
where these came from. Marty. P.S. I
want to talk to you about a product tie
in..."
SCOTT
I’ll put the, in your r...
WALT
Somebody make a note. I want Li..., for
the broad...what does she like? Lilacs.
Okay. A truck of lilacs when the broad
comes. And get something for Bab
Barrenger, get him, what does he
like...?
SCOTT
Bob Barrenger...Bob...Bob Barrenger’s in
this movie?
WALT
That’s cor...
SCOTT
(awed)
He’s staying here? Bob Barrenger is
staying he...?
WALT
Put something in his room. What does he
like?
BILL
14-year old girls.
WALT
Well, get him something else and let’s
get out of here in one piece. Get him a
half of a 28-year old girl.
INT. PROD. OFFICE - WAITING ROOM - DAY
INSERT FRONT PAGE
"Burlington Banner". Picture of movie star Bob Barrenger,
and Banner headline: "Waterford chosen as sight of new Bob
Barrenger film. A story of small town life based on..."
Carla knocks on the door to the back room, voices from
inside. Outside, on two chairs, the MAYOR, GEORGE BAILEY, a
man in his fifties, and JOE WHITE, the writer, dressed in an
army field jacket and jeans, waiting to be admitted.
Joe is reading an old "Welcome to Waterford" tourist folder.
The door to the room opens, and Joe stands, looks inside,
squints. Takes off his reading glasses and puts on another
pair.
JOE
(to the open door)
I, I’m sor...
(as the door closes, to a
passing aide)
...I lost my typewriter...
Carla brushes past them.
CARLA
Hi, Mr. Bailey...
MAYOR
Carla, would you tell them that I’m...
WALT
(from inside)
What? What is it?
Carla enters the back room. As she does so, she passes the
First A.D., who is on the phone.
FIRST A.D.
Could I speak to my wife, please?
CAMERA takes us with Carla into the back room. Past the A.D.
SECRETARY
(to A.D.)
You’ve got a call...
INT. PROD. OFFICE - WALT’S OFFICE - DAY
Inside the room, production boards being carried in,
blackboards, schedules taped to the wall, sketches of Main
Street, a large "days till shoot...4" sign. The Old Mill
plate is on the desk.
The PRODUCTION DESIGNER is bent over a worktable, he holds a
compass and refers to blueprints and a scale model of the
Firehouse and the Old Mill, which are on the table.
Walt is holding glossy photographs, and leafs through them as
the Production Designer talks. They leaf through
storyboards.
We see that Walt is leafing through glossy photos of horses.
Walt has shuffleboard stick over his shoulder.
ANGLE ON
Storyboards of firehouse scene.
BILL
And Uberto tells me he can’t take this
shot, unless they let him take out the
firehouse window.
COSTUME DESIGNER
Walt, I’ve got to talk to you about the
nude scene.
Carla enters.
WALT
Aren’t you ever in school?
CARLA
There’s other things to be learned.
WALT
Izzat so?
CARLA
The Mayor’s outside.
WALT
What’s his name?
CARLA
Mr. Bailey.
Walt goes to the door, opens it and looks around.
EXT. WALT’S OFFICE - DAY
Joe reading the Burlington Banner. He stands up.
WALT
Mr. Bailey...Mr. Bailey...?
Walt and Mr. Bailey enter Walt’s office.
JOE
(to passing secretary)
I lost my typewriter...?
A.D.
(passing)
Yes, could I please speak to my wife...?
ANGLE
Interior Walt’s office.
WALT
I have to tell you, I can not express to
you how happy...
MAYOR
And we’re glad to have you here...
WALT
My golly, you know? All my life I grew
up in the city, but every summer...
would you like a cigar?
MAYOR
(of cigars)
Aren’t these illegal?
WALT
Why would they be illegal?
BILL
...there’s a trade embargo against Cuba.
Pause.
MAYOR
Well, you know, Walt, I just wanted to
say that anything I could do...
WALT
That’s very kind of...as a matter-of
fact, one, I hate to bother you with...
MAYOR
...not at all...
WALT
...we need the shooting permit for Main
Street...
MAYOR
Whatever you need. The City Council, of
course, has to pass on your...
WALT
...the city council...
MAYOR
On your "permit," but that is less than
a formality.
WALT
...it is?
MAYOR
I am the City Council. We meet Friday,
and I...
WALT
George, that is so kind of you.
MAYOR
And, my wife wanted to, wanted me to ask
you, we’d like to welcome you, we’d,
she’d like to have you to dinner at our
home.
(beat)
I don’t mean to be...
He hands an invitation to Walt.
WALT
Are you kidding me? We would be
delighted.
Phone rings. Walt motions to an aide, who writes in green on
a production board... "Tuesday 12th, dinner, Mayor."
MAYOR
Well, I won’t take more of your time...
BILL
Walt, it’s Marty on the Coast...
MAYOR
We’ll see you Tuesday, then...
Walt starts for the phone.
WALT
It’s one of the great, great pleasures
meeting you...
Mayor leaves the office.
BILL
It’s Marty on the Coast.
WALT
On the coast? Of course he’s on the
coast, where’s he gonna be, the Hague?
Walt goes to the phone.
WALT (CONT’D)
(into phone)
What? Marty?! Hi. We’re...
(pause)
The new town is cheaper than the other
town. We’re going to save a
for...because..because we don’t have to
rebuild the Old Mill, they’ve got an Old
Mill...they’ve got a firehouse...they...
A production assistant comes in, installing a piece of
equipment. She brushes past the drywipe board, where we see
she wipes out "Dinner with the Mayor."
WALT (CONT’D)
Baby, baby, I want to save the money
just as much as you do...no, no it’s not
coming out of my pocket. It’s going
into my pock...my...my and your
pock...yeah? Okay. A product placement
- tell me ab...he’s going through a
tunnel.
(to Production Assistant)
Whoa, whoa, whoa, you wiped out the
board. DINNER WITH THE MAYOR, TUESDAY
NIGHT, write it in red. That’s all we
need, to miss Dinner with...
First A.D. sticks his head into the room.
FIRST A.D.
We can’t shoot in the Old Mill.
WALT
(to phone)
Wait a sec, Marty. Call us back. Two
minutes.
He hangs up. Pause.
FIRST A.D.
We can’t shoot in the Old Mill.
WALT
I just saw the Mayor, he said anything
we want.
FIRST A.D.
It burnt down.
BILL
When did it burn down?
First A.D. takes out a book, "The History of Waterford" and
reads.
FIRST A.D.
Nineteen-sixty. "Part of a spate of
suspicious fires, the Old Mill, the..."
He hands Polaroids of the burnt Old Mill around. All look at
them.
ANGLE IN
Debris by some water.
WALT
You told me they had on Old Mill here...
FIRST A.D.
"Suspicions of arson, these fires,
believed set by a disturbed teenager
were, in fact, the inspiration for the
formation of..."
He puts the Polaroids down by the model of the Old Mill.
BEAT
Joe White, the WRITER, enters.
BILL
But, does it have to be an Old Mill?
JOE
Hi.
WALT
Does it have to be an Old Mill? Where
have you been?
JOE
I was in New Hampshire. I was at the
Old Location.
WALT
We can’t shoot the Old Mill.
JOE
(laughs)
You know, they told me there were gonna
be some jokes. Kid the New Guy...
BILL
The Mill burnt down.
He shows the Polaroids -- they show the debris, and Bill
standing by them.
BILL (CONT’D)
Wonderful scr...
JOE
(pause)
Can’t...can’t you build the Old Mill?
WALT
We’re out of money.
JOE
You built an Old Mill in New Hampshire.
BI
They’re holding it for ransom.
JOE
Uh -- why did we have to leave New
Hampshire?
PAUSE
The phone rings.
WALT
Halo? Marty?
(to Joe)
What would they have used instead of an
old mill? We need it tonight.
(to phone)
Marty? Yeah you were saying?
JOE
I can’t write it.
PAUSE
JOE (CONT’D)
I lost my typewriter.
WALT
Grace: get Mr. White a typewriter.
JOE
I can only write on a manual.
WALT
I know the feeling.
JOE
Well, you know, you know, that’s a lie,
I, I...
WALT
Grace...
JOE
That’s a real fault, I...
WALT
Grace. Get Mr. White a manual
typewriter.
(to Joe)
It’s not a lie, it’s a gift for fiction.
And somebody find me my lucky pillow.
He nods at Joe, who leaves the office. Hold on Walt as he
looks at horse pictures.
WALT (CONT’D)
How big is this horse?
BILL
(looking at the resume)
Fifteen hands.
WALT
What is that in fingers...? Just
kidding, get me this horse.
BILL
This horse is booked.
WALT
Tell the guy, get me the horse, I’ll
give him an associate producer credit.
ANGLE ON
Joe, outside Walt’s door, looking at his script and shaking
his head.
ANGLE HIS POV
INSERT THE SCRIPT
We see for the first time that the name of the script is "The
Old Mill," by Joseph Turner White.
We hear raucous laughter from Walt, et al, in the B.G.
INT. TAVERN INN LOBBY - DAY
Joe passes the First A.D. on the telephone, sees Bill. The
P.A.’s are humping mounds of luggage.
FIRST A.D.
Well, no, the labor with a first child
can sometimes be prolonged, as much
as...
BILL
(to P.A.)
Find Walt’s lucky pillow.
JOE
What’s an associate producer credit?
BILL
It’s what you give to your secretary
instead of a raise.
Scott in an argument with an electrician.
ELECTRICIAN
...put a VHS and an air-conditioner and
a refrigerator in that room, she’s going
to blow...
A delivery man appears with an invoice and a crate. Scott
checks the invoice against a list.
SCOTT
This isn’t Evian Water.
DELIVERY MAN
It’s water.
SCOTT
I can’t sign for it, I’m...
ELECTRICIAN
...she’s going to blow.
SCOTT
Well, you re-wire...
ELECTRICIAN
I rewire it, I’m going to have to tear
out half the, look, what do they need
with fifty-four telephone lines?
SCOTT
Freddy, Freddy, I work for these people,
you...it is to be done, you see that
it’s done...
The GIRL P.A. arrives with a huge bouquet.
GIRL P.A.
I found lilacs!
SCOTT
Wonderful, that’s...
Joe the writer enters, goes up to the desk.
JOE
Did they find...
The Scott’s eyes turn toward the door. Everyone’s eyes turn
towards the door.
JOE (CONT’D)
(as he writes in his notebook)
Did they find my typewriter...
ANGLE POV
Bob Barrenger, the star, screamingly fit, leather jacket,
jeans, carrying a gym bag. He smiles, goes up to the desk.
As he goes up to the desk, teenagers, who have been waiting
in the lobby, crowd to him.
SCOTT
I told you!!! All of you get back!!!
Get back!!! This man is a guest here!
The teenagers retreat.
BOB
Hello, I’m...
SCOTT
Oh, sir, I know who you are...
BOB
Bob Barrenger, I’m with the mo...
SCOTT
Sir, sir, we’re so, we’re...
(he hits the bell)
Front! Front!! We are so, I’ve seen, I
know everybody says this, but I’ve seen
every every one of your...
(to Electrician)
Freddy, take Mr...
ELECTRICIAN
...I’m working.
SCOTT
Your room is 414 through seventeen. I’m
Scott Larkin. Anything you need, this
is my private...
(hands him a card)
BOB
Glad to meet you, Scottie. I’m just
here to do a job, just like the rest of
these...
First A.D. walks through the lobby.
FIRST A.D.
(to Joe)
Have you got the new pages on the Old
Mill? Hey, Bob.
BOB
Hey, Tommy. Heard your wife’s having a
baby.
FIRST A.D.
That’s right.
BOB
You know who the father is?
FIRST A.D.
They think it’s your first wife.
BOB
That could be.
An old man, the BELLHOP, is sitting by the front door, eating
his lunch out of an old galvanized tin lunch bucket. He puts
it down, and gets up and takes the bags.
The lobby is filled with gawkers CHUCKIE, a young boy
holding a bat and ball, comes over with an autograph pad.
FIRST A.D.
(to Scott)
I’m going to give you a list of Mr.
Barrenger’s dietary requirements.
CHUCKIE
Mr. Barrenger, I...
SCOTT
Not today, not today, Chuckie. Mr.
Barrenger has just...
Barrenger brushes him aside.
BOB
(to Chuckie)
How do you spell that, son? With an
I.E.? Chuck? What’re your hobbies?
CHUCKIE
Baseball.
BOB
Baseball! That’s the national sport.
Gimme that!
He takes Chuckie’s ball and autographs it: "CHUCKIE! From
your pal, Bob Barrenger."
BOB (CONT’D)
Chuckie...
CAMERA PANS off Bob as he talks to Chuckie, and onto Joe, who
is wandering around the lobby. The First A.D. comes up to
Joe.
FIRST A.D.
How you doin’ with the Old Mill pages?
JOE
I need my typewriter. Did they find
my...?
INT. COFFEE CORNER - DAY
ANGLE INS.
PAN OFF "Trials of the Heart" theatrical poster. Two old
codgers, Morris and Spud, and Jack sitting in the same window
booth chatting. Phone rings. Carla answers it.
CARLA
Coffee Corner.
JACK
Fellow gets a calf, it’s forty below,
calf gets out, he hears that animal,
he’s going to, get up, pull on his
jeans...
The Mayor is taking a pack of Camels from Carla’s father.
ANGLE ON
Carla, at the counter, reading "The Old Mill"
surreptitiously.
MORRIS
He’s going to get that calf.
SPUD
Mmm...
CARLA
(into phone)
Thank you.
(hangs up, to her father who is
behind the grill)
Vanilla Frappe. Two tuna B.L.T.’s...
JACK
What’s a Tuna B.L.T.?
CARLA
Oh, Dad, didn’t you read in People
Magazine...
ANN
Well, I for one, am glad of a little
diversion and I’m glad they’re here.
DOUG
What I am saying, is, we have to Look
Out For Our Own... Now: they want to
close down Main Street.
JACK
Y’wanna talk about Main Street, whyn’t
cha fix the pothole?
ANN
Doug, it’s, what did you...? Three
days, three, four days. We’ll have a
record of our wonderful life.
DOUG
Annie: you stick to the Amateur
Theatricals. This isn’t quite the same
thing, you see? This is Big Business,
in which, our Life
(to Mayor)
s’no less a commodity than...than our...
ANN
Water or mineral deposits.
DOUG
Waal, that’s what I’m saying.
JACK
Communist Country, he hears that Calf
it’s two a.m., four feet of snow, what
does he say? "That’s the State’s Calf
out there..." He rolls over. "Wake me
at Ten."
Carla, who has been waiting for the order to be prepared,
takes it from her father, starts out the door.
CARLA
I think that they’re nice.
ANN
I’m sure they are.
JACK
That’s the difference, Communism and you
know...
SPUD
Communism’s over.
JACK
That’s what they said about Warner
Brothers, 1985, but if you look at their
price-per-share...
CARLA
Dad, I’ve got to go to Terry’s house to
study tonight...
JACK
I want you home by Nine.
DOUG
I want to tell you something, Ann: you
stay soft all your life, people despise
you;
it awakens Avarice in them, they take
advantage of you, and that’s Human
Nature.
She gets up.
She starts to exit the Coffee Corner. Jack picks up a copy
of ’People’ magazine.
INSERT
An article of Bob Barrenger.
Carla has gone over it with a highlighter. The article is
called "Bob Barrenger’s Little Problem."
ANGLE
Interior Coffee Corner.
DOUG (CONT’D)
We on for tomorrow night?
ANN
After Drama Group.
DOUG
Drama Group?
and Thursdays. But after Play
Practice, I’m yours.
DOUG
Go you Huskies.
He starts to exit and turns back.
DOUG (CONT’D)
And I might have something important to
tell you...
ANN
What is it, a surprise?
DOUG
That’s right.
They exit.
MORRIS
She coulda done better than him.
SPUD
It takes all kinds.
MORRIS
Zat what it takes? I always wondered
what it took...
We hear the TRAFFIC LIGHT beeping from the street.
EXT. BOOKSHOP - DAY
Joe, pacing in front of the window. Theatrical sign in the
window. Sign in the window: "Out! Will return at..." Ann
comes up to the door. Starts opening it with a key.
JOE
I, excuse me, the sign says you’ll be
back at two. It’s quarter to three...
She looks up at the sign, changes the hand to read a quarter
to three. She opens the door. Goes inside. He follows.
Camera follows.
INT. BOOKSTORE - DAY
Old Bookstore and stationary store. Several old typewriters
for sale.
JOE
(off the sign)
You’re doing a play...
ANN
Local Drama Group.
(she answers the phone)
Northern Books. No, it hasn’t come in
yet. As soon as it does. Yup, you too,
Marge.
She hangs up.
JOE
...small town. I suppose. You have to
make your own fun.
ANN
Everybody makes their own fun.
(she answers another phone
call)
F’you don’t make it yourself, it ain’t
fun, it’s entertainment.
She picks up half-knitted sweater off computer.
ANN (CONT’D)
(to phone while knitting)
Northern Books.
(to Joe)
What can I do for you?
JOE
I need a
.
ANN
We got ’em.
(to phone)
North...No, Henry James was the
novelist, Frank James was the criminal.
(to Joe, of the typewriter)
Yep, you came to the right place.
(to the phone)
Jessie James was the Brother. Of the
novelist. That’s right. That’s
alright, Susie. See you tomorrow,
Susie.
He has picked up a typewriter, old, manual.
JOE
I want to rent this one.
ANN
Why don’t you buy it, only forty bucks.
JOE
I have one, but they lost it.
ANN
Who?
JOE
The people in New Hampshire.
ANN
(shrugs)
That’s why they have state borders...
whyn’t you get a replacement?
JOE
Well, it had sentimental value.
ANN
You buy the typewriter, I’ll get it all
spruced up, good as new. Better than
new. It has some history.
JOE
Other one has history, too. I wrote my
play on it.
ANN
You wrote a play on it? What play is
that?
JOE
You haven’t heard of it.
ANN
What’s it called?
JOE
"Anguish."
Little kids enter to get candy. As Joe speaks, he takes off
his regular glasses and puts on his reading glasses and
inserts a piece of paper into the typewriter and types,
"Everyone makes their own fun -- if you don’t make it
yourself, it’s not fun, it’s entertainment."
ANN
"Anguish" by Joseph Turner White...?
He looks up.
ANN (CONT’D)
You’re Joseph Turner White?
He switches glasses to look at her. A very OLD WOMAN comes
in, goes back to the coffee machine.
MAUDE
Afternoon, Ann.
Ann takes down a book from a shelf.
ANN
Maude, this man wrote this play!
MAUDE
That a fact. Now, is it a good play?
ANN
Yes, Maude, it is. It is a very good
play.
MAUDE
Well, then, what’s he doing here?
ANN
What’re you doing here?
JOE
Writing the movie.
MAUDE
You’re writing a movie...
JOE
Yes.
MAUDE
What’s it about?
JOE
It’s about the quest for purity.
INT. WALT’S ROOM - DAY
Walt, Bob Barrenger and the SCRIPT SUPERVISOR are savaging
the script.
BOB
...because he wouldn’t say that: Look:
(flips through the script,
reads)
"Sister, I’ve just come from a fire.
There’s some things I want to think
out..." now, come one, come on... "Leave
me alone." a gesture...? Alright?
Walt opens a case and extracts his lucky pillow which is
embroidered "Shoot first. Ask questions afterward."
WALT
What else?
BOB
Page...three. Now: "It’s a nice
evening."
(beat)
I’m not gonna say that..."It’s a
nice..."
Knock on the door.
WALT
Come in.
Joe enters.
WALT (CONT’D)
Hey, Joe...Good. You know B...
JOE
I grew up on your mov...
BOB
Do you mind if we don’t go through the
usual bullshit about how I loved it?
Knock on the door. Carla enters with another brown bag.
BOB (CONT’D)
I mean, okay, fine, but it’s a motion
Picture.
WALT
Thanks, honey, but next time, bring two,
save yourself a trip.
BOB
The people came to see a motion Picture.
(to Carla, who starts to leave)
Hold on...
WALT
He’s saying, what are you saying, Bobby?
BOB
Tell it with...
WALT
Tell it with pictures.
BOB
Tell it with pictures. What I’m
saying...
WALT
We’ve got four days to...
As Bob talks, he exchanges glances with Carla.
BOB
You look at: girl comes in the room, an
apron, a brown bag, what is she...?
She’s a...?
WALT
She’s a...
BOB
She’s a waitress.
WALT
What...
BOB
What I...
WALT
Hold on. What Bob is saying, you don’t
need...
BOB
You don’t need, "Hi, I’ve just come from
the restaurant."
WALT
(to Carla)
You can go...
BOB
Alright: Let’s
(he takes out a list, Carla
exits)
Page five, the fucking horse dies.
(of Carla)
&n |
